Foreign Minister
Julie Bishop
has ­reassured China that Australia is not part of a United States-led cabal intent on siding against Beijing in its simmering territorial rows.

Ms Bishop made the comments while on a visit to Japan and after ­Beijing took offence over a statement issued following a US-Australia-Japan trilateral dialogue which warned against “coercive or unilateral actions’’ to resolve the disputes.

Ms Bishop also moved to reassure Japan that Australia would lift its game on inward investment after Japan warned the slow pace and complexity of infrastructure project approvals was an obstacle to expanding ­investment ties.

In the statement issued by the ­Chinese foreign ministry following a meeting Ms Bishop attended on the sidelines of APEC, the Chinese foreign ministry warned Japan, the US and Australia not to use their alliance as an excuse to intervene in territorial disputes in the East and South China Seas which might inflame the situation.

Ms Bishop told reporters in Tokyo she had informed Chinese ­officials since the diplomatic missive the dialogue between the US Japan and Australia, was “not aimed at any country’’.

‘We don’t take sides’

“Our view on the (territorial disputes) has been long-standing . . . we don’t take sides . . . but we certainly don’t support coercive or unilateral action in the resolution of such disputes,’’ Ms Bishop said.

In fact, Ms Bishop said all three countries had a role to play in “encouraging China to be a responsible regional and global player’’.

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Relations between China and Japan have been troubled by a row over tiny uninhabited islands in the East China Sea, while in the South China Sea, the Philippines, Taiwan, Malaysia, Vietnam and Brunei are in long-standing sovereignty disputes with China.

In an earlier address to the National Press Club in Tokyo, Ms Bishop stressed the Abbott government’s commitment to economic diplomacy and concluding a free trade agreement with Japan.

She added that Australia was prepared to slash red tape and streamline project approvals to boost Japanese investment.

Slow approval blocks investment

During the election campaign Japan’s ambassador to Australia ­
Yoshitaka Akimoto
warned Australia’s slow and complex project infrastructure approval process was an obstacle to boosting Japanese investment. But Ms Bishop said an Abbott government was committed to improving Australia’s attractiveness as a business investment destination.

She said the government was committed to repealing the carbon and mining taxes, slashing red tape and green tape around major projects.

Japan is Australia’s third-biggest investment partner with a stock of $127 billion in 2011-12 behind the US and UK. It is also Australia’s second biggest trading partner – worth $72 billion in 2012 and weighted in Australia’s favour because of coal and iron ore exports.

Following a meeting with Ms Bishop, Japan’s Foreign Minister
Fumio ­Kishida
said Japan had a “strong ­willingness to conclude a free trade agreement with Australia’’.

Talks have been going since 2006 but have become bogged down over Australian automotive and Japanese agriculture product tariffs.

But Mr Kishida said after the last talks in June, differences had “narrowed quite significantly’’.